“Cherry Clark is a spoiled brat, unappreciative of the good fortune she’s experienced throughout her life. She is also a solitary sex addict, experiencing her vicarious desires through her imagination and Internet porn. Her closet desire to be a submissive is shrouded in fear; and her mouthy attitude only gets her into trouble. One night after work, she finds a flier stuck to her car, advertising a mysterious club, Sheol’s Fringe. Her interest is aroused, she decides to go, unaware that her life is about to change forever. Sameal, the hot looking bartender and Sheol’s owner, is also a “devil”, and a member of the Board of Directors for Devil Corp, an organization that brokers in human pleasures through the use of a ‘Dream Journal’ service. The journal itself allows the user to experience whatever fantasy they write about while in a sleep-like trance. Sameal gives her a dream journal of her own, through which Cherry lives out her deepest and darkest fantasies. Her desires take some shocking twists. Even more frightening, they tend to manifest themselves in unusal physical form.“

I love this quote it’s one of my favorites by far…

“I could almost taste the thick, mouth-watering fog of manly power that seeped from his pores, smothering me beneath it. Just being near him filled me with an overpowering sense of intimidation, excitement, and nervous surrender all rolled into one general package of an amazing turn-on. “ — Johnny Stone

Intense! I picked up this book after I saw it posted in one of my groups as an erotica paranormal read. I have read several erotica books and they were less than satisfactory in terms of plot and character development so I ventured into this one with caution…and an open mind.=)

This fabulous book had it all; the plot although revolving around sexual exploration worked; a very well developed female character – I felt for her, I liked her, I cheered for her; plus the intimacy scenes that were simply mind blowing. Hot, heavy but tasteful and written with such care I couldn’t help but sigh in awe.

Therefore, a read with solid writing, flowing energy both in the plot and the bedroom scenery, one that excites and renews a feeling of novelty, erases the boredom of repetitive plot construction currently in circulation among the paranormal books, is worthy of a 5 star mark regardless of the challenge to my sheltered senses. And make no mistake my senses were challenged; it was an intense read plagued with dark desires and unfathomable fantasies.

As if the taboo’s were not challenging enough, the paranormal element just brought an additional edge all wrapped up in one AMAZING read!

I’m giving it 3 stars, it had promise and failed to deliver. I like to suspend belief when I’m reading, but the dialogue between mother and daughter was pushing it too far. She buys her mother sex toys? And not just a fun vibrator, but an entire box of stuff (and wasn’t she a hard-up student anyway?!?) – and then talks in detail about mother’s sex life… Sorry, I don’t buy that. Also, and this really made me cringe, she nagged her mother into stripping naked and trying on new underwear IN FRONT OF HER. Ewwwwwwww.

And I did some numbers in my head. Zach has been a ‘popular’ escort for 10 years, so lets say he has sex with one new woman every 2 weeks (I’m being generous here, stay with me a moment…) – that’s an average of 26 a year – over 250 in 10 years. Yeah, he’s experienced < rolls eyes >.

I thought Zach fell for her too quickly and I really REALLY think she would be more put off by his slut-history – especially when she screws him WITHOUT a condom, and without even asking first. So ok, she couldn’t get pregnant, but HELLO… she works in a hospital and has never heard of STDs? Yeah, right!

So apart from the terrible cover and the cheesy title (which is actually kinda fun), it was only the author’s great writing that held this together for me. 3 out of 5.

This is the 3rd Claire Thompson that I’ve read and the one I enjoyed the most so far. Ashley Kendall is the pseudonym for Kate Alexander, a popular romantic novelist, and she’s embarking on some background research for her latest work – featuring BDSM. She’s had a tiny taste of this in a previous relationship that ended badly and has always been curious about it, so she books onto a ‘BDSM Immersion Weekend’.

It was her secret adventure. She could reinvent herself, just for this one weekend. After all, it was Ashley Kendall who was attending. Kate Alexander could remain safely hidden, watching from the sidelines, taking notes.

She shares a motel room with Stacey, an outgoing and experienced girl on this scene who promises to take her under her wing, and make sure that ‘Ashley’ has a good time. Things do not go to plan, however. Master John Brighton, one of the most experienced Doms, takes an instant interest in her. He tries to persuade her to attend his seminar on whipping techniques – and maybe participate in a scene with him.

She felt his hand on her shoulder, gently but forcibly turning her back towards him. “Ashley,” he said, reading her tag. Looking back at her face, his smile was warm enough to melt butter. “I bet you’re a wild one, in serious need of taming.”

She has doubts about taking part, but assured that the scene will stop if she utters her safe word, she allows him to cane her. When his sadistic nature becomes apparent – and he brutally ignores her safe word – it takes another of the resident Doms, Chase Saunders, to intervene and rescue her. She’d liked Chase earlier and enjoyed his seminar on rope play, but for him to see her messed up and traumatized is too much to cope with. Especially when he’d warned her to think carefully about taking part. She packs her bags and flees for home.

He reached for her arm, thinking how he’d fantasized so much over the last two days about being alone with her, but not like this. Not cleaning up the terrible mess another man had made.

She shrugged his hand away, shaking her head violently. “No,” she said, her voice wavering. She took a breath and said with more force. “Leave me alone. Just leave me be. I can take care of myself. I don’t want you or him.” She shot a venomous look in Brighton’s direction that would have made Chase whoop in triumph if she weren’t also rejecting him in the process.

Chase is desperate to make sure she’s okay and tracks down her email address through her website, finally making contact with her. They talk. Meet for lunch. Get to know each other. Chase encourages her to continue exploring the world of BDSM. With him. She plucks up the courage to visit him and after a sensual and mind blowing introduction to bondage, they make love. This should be the start of a wonderful romance… only Chase – at the height of passion – calls her by another woman’s name.

She should just let his gaffe pass, keep quiet, pretend she hadn’t noticed. Instead, she found herself asking, “What just happened?”

Chase turned his head slowly towards her, his eyes dark and filled with grief. “I’m so sorry, Kate.”

Chase has a dark secret of his own and one that threatens the basis of their fledgling relationship.

It was that expression of pity that pushed him the rest of the way down. In the space of a few minutes, Kate had gone from eager, adoring new lover to just another person who felt sorry for poor Chase. He could hardly bear the transformation.

I think what made this Claire Thompson stand out, for me, was that I felt engaged with the characters. This was a romance novel – erotic and sexy – but at its heart was a love story of two lonely individuals learning to trust each other and finding love. This was a great read. Angsty and emotional, it tugged on my heartstrings and pleased me with its conclusion.